DARLINGTON, S.C. - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had the fastest lap in Friday’s final Cup practice at Darlington Raceway.
Stenhouse paced the field with a lap of 168.844 mph. He was followed by Kyle Larson (168.763 mph), William Byron (168.480), Kurt Busch (168.261) and Matt DiBenedetto (168.249).
Aric Almirola will go to a backup car and start at the rear of the field in Sunday’s Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on NBCSN) after he hit the wall in this session.
“They say bad things come in three,” Almirola told NBCSN. “I wrecked at Michigan. I wrecked at Bristol. I wrecked here. Hopefully it’s over.”
MORE: Click here for practice report
Joey Logano ran the most laps in the session with 61.
Larson had the best average over 10 consecutive laps at 166.897 mph. He was followed by Denny Hamlin (166.509 mph) and Kyle Busch (166.508).
Cup qualifying will be at 2:05 p.m. ET Saturday on NBCSN.
"Bad things come in threes."
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 30, 2019
After wrecking at Michigan, Bristol, and now Darlington practice, @Aric_Almirola hopes the bad luck is over this weekend. #NASCARThrowback pic.twitter.com/UZPUvordsG
Those looking for NASCAR Fantasy live help. Here are the lap averages from happy hour @TooToughToTame pic.twitter.com/fs2TuTvi8s
— Steve Letarte (@SteveLetarte) August 30, 2019